I STARTED the morning by going online before packing my gear to see what was going on around, including at home. I was shocked and really saddened to read that a neighbour and friend, Charles Bernstein, had died two days ago. The last we heard he was not exactly well, but never did I expect this. Most of my riding day was thinking about Charles and to him this day is in memory of him.
The weather forecast had been for a lot of rain and cold weather, deteriorating into heavy rain and even colder. When I looked out, there were clear skies and sunshine. Hmmmm. This was looking better.
After breakfast and packing up, we carried the gear downstairs to load up then headed out of town ... up, up, and up. Yes, in case you're wondering, there was some walking. For the next 15 km the road overlooked the coastline and the sun shone down, though we could see some pretty ominous clouds to the north in the direction we were heading.
The route pretty well rolled up and down with some fairly steep climbs and descents. One particular town (Trstenik?) had us descend right down to sea level where the road ran right along the beach until it turned up sharply and climbed way up above the water.
The views were absolutely astonishing. Birds were singing, rosemary bushes were incredibly fragrant, and oh my, were there ever a lot of vineyards along the way.
We came to a point where a car popped out of a tunnel so i decided to take a look on the gps - sure enough, we had to pass through the 400 m dimly lit tunnel to get to the inside of the coastal mountains. Fortunately, no cars came along as we passed through so in no time we were inside the mountains and instead of countryside, there was civilization around where signs were everywhere for wine, olive oil and other items for sale at every second house.
Then the road started to climb and the clouds rolled in. And then a few water droplets and then a few more. The more we climbed the darker it got unti suddenly the skies let go and just dumped. Thunder roared. Lightning flashed. And hail - it clinked and clanked my helmet, and even dinged my bell. The rain got so hard that I stopped half way up the mountain to stand under a tree to get some protection from the storm. As we were quite high, the temperature was low but it got even cooler as the storm passed. Thankfully, it dwindled down and actually came to a stop so we were able to continue, though by now we were completely drenched. The climbing continued for a little while longer but then it leveled off before turning downwards for a gloriously long winding descent into Orebić.
After that long climb I suddenly realized how hungry I was so when I spotted a bakery I stopped immediately. MA got a ham and cheese croissant while I chose a cherry pastry - YUMMY! We wanted to get to the ferry port so we packed away the goodies and continued on our way until we reached the port, where a number of cars were already parked waiting for the ferry in 45 minutes. It had started to rain again so we headed to a nearby bus shelter where we devoured our delicious goodies.
Right on time, the Jadrolinja ferry arrived to the dock and once the passengers had disembarked, we rolled aboard for the fifteen or twenty minute ferry ride to Korčula. And the sun continued to shine. This ferry port was different than Krilo so we had a few kilometres to ride to town and then to our apartment. Though we were early, the host was fine with us relaxing on their swings until the room was ready which was only about twenty minutes later. A cute room, we quickly sorted out our gear before heading to the old town to explore.
Adjacent to one of the old town's towers is a pebbly beach and I just had to wade into the Adriatic for the first time in my life. However, when I got our, I had what appeared to be tar on my feet?! Then I spotted a couple of large sharp shards of glass among the pebbles. I was lucky and unlucky at the same time. I did my best to clean up but it stuck like tar to a foot.
We meandered the beautiful old town for a while then headed to the Konzum grocery store to get items for supper, snack, breakfast and on the road tomorrow, then made our way back up to our apartment. Now it was time for a few important jobs - clean my feet and get dinner ready.
While MA made a cheese/tomato/pesto chicken, I went to work on scrubbing away the tar and was able to sort it out. I felt like a duckling cleaned with Dawn dish soap. Then, as nerdy as it was, we were able to relax and watch the Amazing Race episode we had missed last week. Reality TV I know, but hey, it is travel related after all.
Weather is looking pretty good for the next few days so tomorrow will be a bit more relaxed than today since we don't have to get anywhere before the weather gets crappy. We can take our time and enjoy what is supposed to be a beautiful ride.
Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles) Total: 172 km (107 miles)
